Teaching Mindfulness
Currently, I lead an online meditation group that meets once a month. For more information, go to the Online Community page.
I am a regular guest teacher at the Bellingham Insight Meditation Society and have taught at other Sanghas including the Victoria Insight Meditation Society, Eastside Insight Meditation Group, Vashon Insight Meditation, Mount Om Sangha in Leavenworth, WA, and the GBLTQI Sangha in Olympia, WA. Every year, I teach at the Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, WA with Ayya Santacitta. I have also taught mindfulness meditation to veterans, faith-based groups, at universities & colleges, government agencies, and in community settings.
I am a regular guest teacher at the Bellingham Insight Meditation Society and have taught at other Sanghas including the Victoria Insight Meditation Society, Eastside Insight Meditation Group, Vashon Insight Meditation, Mount Om Sangha in Leavenworth, WA, and the GBLTQI Sangha in Olympia, WA. Every year, I teach at the Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, WA with Ayya Santacitta. I have also taught mindfulness meditation to veterans, faith-based groups, at universities & colleges, government agencies, and in community settings.
Mentoring Mindfulness
I was a Mentor in the Power of Awareness, an online mindfulness training taught by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach from 2018 - 2024. From 2021 - 2025, I was also a Mentor in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, an internationally-accredited two-year cohort-based program also taught by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Currently, I mentor a few individuals privately.
Bio
I am naturally curious and have lived my life as an explorer, an inquirer and a pilgrim. In my early twenties, I was fascinated by life, especially the natural environment. This led me to study biochemistry, culminating in a doctorate (1981) from Oxford University in the UK. While there, I became interested in environmental health policy, which prompted me to move to Canada, where I set up and managed the City of Toronto’s Environmental Protection Office – the first local government environmental office in Canada.
In 1990s, I wanted to work at a larger scale so I established and directed an environmental policy consultancy in Ottawa, Canada which provided services to international agencies and the Canadian federal government.
By 2000 I had become frustrated by the slow pace of policy change so I decided to return to school to study cultural change, completing an MA in cultural anthropology and social transformation at the California Institute for Integral Studies. And then in 2002, I became a Professor at Antioch University Seattle in its graduate program in Environment & Community. In 2007, I was appointed Director of Antioch’s Center for Creative Change and served in this role until 2010, taking an early retirement in 2016. I am now Professor Emerita at Antioch University, Senior Fellow at the Whidbey Institute, and Board Chair and President of the Saranaloka Foundation.
Other professional roles have included:
Teaching
Community Service
I have served on the boards of many governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including:
Author
I am a mother and a grandmother, and I live on Tscha-kole-chy, also known as Whidbey Island, WA, with my husband George.
In 1990s, I wanted to work at a larger scale so I established and directed an environmental policy consultancy in Ottawa, Canada which provided services to international agencies and the Canadian federal government.
By 2000 I had become frustrated by the slow pace of policy change so I decided to return to school to study cultural change, completing an MA in cultural anthropology and social transformation at the California Institute for Integral Studies. And then in 2002, I became a Professor at Antioch University Seattle in its graduate program in Environment & Community. In 2007, I was appointed Director of Antioch’s Center for Creative Change and served in this role until 2010, taking an early retirement in 2016. I am now Professor Emerita at Antioch University, Senior Fellow at the Whidbey Institute, and Board Chair and President of the Saranaloka Foundation.
Other professional roles have included:
Teaching
- Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health (2011-2020).
- Teaching at colleges and universities in the US, Canada and the UK, including Schumacher College in England, the University of Toronto and Holy Names University in California.
Community Service
I have served on the boards of many governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including:
- The International Joint Commission
- The Royal Society of Canada
- The Canadian Environmental Law Association
- The Institute for Children’s Environmental Health and
- The Sustainable Path Foundation.
Author
- My first book, The Rise of the U.S. Environmental Health Movement (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013) was selected as one of the top ten books on sustainability by Booklist.
- My second book, Intrinsic Hope: Living Courageously in Troubled Times (New Society Publishers, 2018) was awarded the Grand Prize of the Nautilus Book Awards.
I am a mother and a grandmother, and I live on Tscha-kole-chy, also known as Whidbey Island, WA, with my husband George.